DESCRIPTION (from the application): The Gordon Research Conference on The Chemistry, Physiology and Structure of Bones and Teeth is now in its forty-second year. The conference has been and still is a primary driving force in accelerating progress in research of skeletal/dental tissue biology. In the past few years, the conference has acquired a new vigor with the increasing interest in the treatment and the identification of the underlying causes of metabolic bone diseases and subsequent treatment. This meeting brings together many of the world's leading investigators as well as many of the bright young scholars who are active in skeletal research. This conference is unique due to its limited size, the large amount of time for open and informal free discussion, and the geographical isolation, allowing the maximum extent of personal scientific interactions. In short, the Gordon Conference on Bones and Teeth is known and recognized to be among the most influential research conferences in the field. This meeting is remarkably cost-effective, which is in part due to the unique administrative support provided by the Gordon Research Conference Organization and the modest, but unique facilities in which the conference is held. The purpose of this proposal is to request funds to partially defray costs of speakers' transportation and subsistence. These funds, if granted, will result in major benefits to those engaged in investigating bone and tooth physiology. It will stimulate further creativity in bone and tooth research in the coming years as it has in the past. The 1997 Conference will focus attention on each of the following areas of research: Skeletal Disease: medical, academic and industrial cross-roads The transition of bone to cartilage pathological biomineralization The bone-blood interface The cell and molecular biology of the osteocyte The functional relationship between osteoclasts and osteoblasts The mechanism of action of growth factors and hormones The regulation of tooth development